Seven missing after boat capsizes in AP

Seven persons are missing after a country boat carrying 30 people capsized in the Gautami river in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said 23 passengers have been rescued while a search is on for the remaining. Naidu said the boat was carrying 30 people, mostly students when it capsized after colliding with a pier of a bridge under construction. A search and rescue operation is on in the river Gautami, a tributary of the Godavari, officials said.

National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force from Rajamahendravaram and Visakhapatnam have been deployed for the rescue operation along with police and revenue personnel. The boat was en route to Saladivari Palem from Pasuvullanka when the mishap occurred on Saturday evening. As the river was in spate, the water was swirling, making the boat movement unstable, a senior official of the State Disaster Management Department here said.

It hit a pier of the bridge that is being constructed on the river and capsized, the official said.

Some students in the boat climbed the base of the pier and saved themselves. Fishermen and local villagers besides bridge construction workers rescued about 20 people. According to a release from the Chief Ministers Office, the rescue operation is on under the supervision of East Godavari district Collector Kartikeya Misra and Superintendent of Police Vishal Gunni.

State Deputy Chief Minister (Home) N China Rajappa is monitoring the rescue operations.